In Pursuit of Knowledge
by Waywatcher
Summary: One-Shot. Robin is determined to know all he can about his competition; this leads him to challenge all the newcomers to fights to figure out their abilities, and Shulk is next on the list. Exactly what will Shulk make of the erratic tactician?


**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Smash Bros.**

 **For those of you unaware of my style, anything in italics is thought unless in the middle of a normal sentence, then it's emphasis. Emphasis in thought is shown with an underline.**

* * *

Robin was insatiable, there was no other way to put it. Knowledge was like food to him, without it he would starve. He loved knowing every little detail about everything, especially when it gave him an advantage in something.

Like fighting, for example, which is why he was currently trying to learn everything he could about his competitors.

Lucina was easy too. He already knew her from before the tournament, no research required.

But for the other newcomers it wasn't so easy. There were precious few records on them, and while Robin could make sure to watch all of their matches, it only taught him so much. So logically, the next best way to learn about them was to fight them himself.

He had already battled Pac Man several times, so he had enough info to go off for now. Rosalina and Luma had entertained him for a few days, having seemingly limitless patience. Little Mac had only given him one match, but it was enough to satisfy him until he could coerce the boxer into another match.

Next on the list was someone called 'Shulk'. Apparently he was a psychic with a magic sword, but that's all his file really said about him.

" _Definitely worth learning about_." Was Robin's though as he jogged down the hallway towards the library. " _His file is frustratingly vague, there has to be more to him than a sword and some psychic powers. Anyone with those abilities has a story, he's not just going to be some town mayor or a fitness trainer._ "

Nicely enough, it wasn't hard to find the boy.

" _Blond hair, blue eyes, giant red sword? That sounds about right_." Robin grinned, approaching the table Shulk was seated at with book in hand. He looked over the boy quickly, noting his peach colored skin and lithe build. " _Now don't act like a creep this time. Little Mac almost pounded in your head when you said you knew a lot about him._ "

The tactician paused behind the boy for a moment, hand raised over the psychic's shoulder. Taking a deep breath, he tapped the blond boy lightly.

"Excuse me." Robin said, trying to hide his excitement. "Are you Shulk?"

"Yes, what is it?" Shulk turned around to greet his new acquaintance. His eyes gave the tactician a quick once-over, noting the white hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. Robin had a medium build, and wore a giant coat bearing some sort of cult symbol that covered almost his entire body.

"Hi, I'm Robin, and, uh, I want to fight you!" The tactician said breathlessly.

...

Robin was mentally hitting himself. " _The idea was to_ _not_ _sound like a creep!_ "

"Erm. Sorry, did I offend you somehow?" Shulk asked, confused.

"N-No! I just wanted to kill- Er, I mean I want to learn about your _skills._ You know, through fighting? Heh heh?" Robin asked weakly. " _This is going terribly._ "

"Are you feeling alright?" The psychic asked, rising from his seat with a concerned look.

"I'm fine!" Robin said quickly, waving his hands in front of him. "Just, uh, excited?"

"For what?"

"Fighting! Err, well, learning about fighting; and fighting too, I guess, just more learning than fighting you know?"

"Right." Shulk said, his expression still somewhat wary. However, he didn't see any real reason to deny Robin's request, so he grabbed his sword and started walking down the hallway. "Shall we be off then?"

"Right!" Robin chirps with excitement, almost tripping over his own cloak as he dashes after him.

Five minutes later the two were standing on two out of the eight transporter pads Robin eagerly flicked through the stage selection menu on the holographic display.

"Let's just do Final Destination." He said, grinning madly. His eyes sparkled as they looked at Shulk. "Is that good?"

"I'm fine with whatever you want." The blond boy says, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. He gestures around the room. "This was your idea after all."

"I guess it was, wasn't it?" Robin giggled. "Right, right. My idea."

Shulk refrained from commenting. He was still debating whether this guy was actually excited or whether he was off his meds. " _That's rude,"_ He thought to himself after a moment, frowning _._ " _I'm sure he's a perfectly nice person. He's just… Unique._ "

"Well then…" The tactician licked his lips and his eyes flicked to the psychic. "Let's do this!"

Robin tapped his selection and the teleportation pads flashed. Suddenly the scenery changed, gone were the plain walls of the setup room, replaced with the endless void of space.

Shulk stretched his arms and gripped the hilt of his sword when he phased into existence. He could see Robin doing something similar across the platform as the tactician pulled out a yellow book and a jagged sword.

" _I don't like the look of that sword_." The psychic thought nervously, never having seen Robin fight before. His only knowledge of the tactician at the time was seeing him at the opening ceremony. " _Why is it so spikey? To inflict more pain? Maybe I should have just walked away when I had the chance._ "

"Ready?" The white-haired boy asked, eyes shining.

"Yep." Shulk gulped. He raised the Monado. "On your mark."

"Mark!" The tactician shouted instantly. He dashed forwards, cloak billowing behind him.

Shulk was quick to block the first strike. He got a small jolt from some sparks that seemed to leap out of the jagged sword. They traded a few more blows, their swords clashing as they both struggled to get past each other's guard.

The two disengaged, circling each other warily. Shulk kept his eyes pinned to the odd sword, noting the sparks dancing off the twisted blade.

"Levin sword." His opponent offered conversationally, apparently having noticed Shulk's interest in the sword. Never one to keep knowledge to himself, the tactician elaborated. "It channels magic energy into electric power, the design is just aesthetic."

Shulk nodded, appreciating the information. He also found himself thinking that it was odd how calm the white-haired boy seemed. Not a minute ago he was jumpy and hyper, but now he was the very image of a calm warrior.

They re-engaged when Robin suddenly dashed in for a strike. The two exchanged a few more quick blows before Robin was forced back due to Shulk's superior melee range.

"Buster!" Shulk called, his Monado flashing a deep purple. He took a quick step forward and sliced at Robin, hitting him across the chest before he could react.

Robin's eyes narrowed at the shout as he quickly rolled away from the next attack. " _Is he a mage as well as a psychic? Come to think of it, I haven't seen any clue of psychic abilities._ "

"Arcfire!" He called. A ball of fire hurled out of his hand and impacted Shulk's sword as he blocked. The ball of fire remained for a few seconds, giving Robin time to charge his thunder tome.

"Speed!"

Only a second after the call Robin was grabbed and thrown up in the air. His opponent leapt up after him, slashing wide arcs with a blue blade of energy that extended from the red main body of the sword.

Using his own sword to block, the tactician landed safely. His eyes rested on his opponent's weapon, mystified as to what it was. Clearly it held some incredible power as it seemed to be modifying Shulk's combat capabilities, not to mention the blue energy blade.

"It's called the Monado." Shulk said after a second of hesitation, deciding to reciprocate his opponent's generosity from earlier. "A divine blade of great power from my home, Bionis."

"Fascinating." Robin whispered. "And you use spells on it to alter your own abilities?"

"The Monado is actually doing all that. I'm just yelling out commands." The blond haired boy said sheepishly. "I'm not a mage."

"But I hear you're a psychic." Robin said, trying to sound casual. " _That sounds like a good transition._ "

"Sort of." Shulk hesitated. "I can see the future."

The tactician's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Sometimes." The blond boy explained, looking sheepish once more. "I can't really control it."

"Ahh." Robin nodded. " _Good to know. Maybe I can test that later._ "

"I'm not nearly as impressive as my file says I am." Shulk went on to admit, chuckling in self-depreciation. "Really, I'm just an engineer with a fancy sword and unreliable fortune telling."

"You're selling yourself short." Robin snorted. "I command an entire army and have years of battle experience under my belt, not to mention I'm a tactician, and you've lasted more than a minute against me. I say you're more than impressive."

Shulk was somewhat surprised. Robin didn't look a day over eighteen, yet he claimed to have commanded an _army_ for _years_. Then again, Shulk himself wasn't an adult yet and he'd traveled across the entirety of his world battling creatures far beyond the capabilities of any normal soldier.

"Well, uh, thanks." The psychic said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and resting his sword point on the floor.

"Hey! Sword up! This is a fight, remember?" Robin shouted, smiling. "I still want to figure out how you fight!"

"Thank Bionis, that's what this was about." Shulk sighed in relief. He raised his sword. "So you are taking your meds."

"Wha-? I resent that!" The tactician pouted. He threw out an indignant thunder spell and the fight was on.

###

"So, uh, that was fun." Shulk said nervously, glancing over at the tactician seated next to him.

The two boys were seated in the cafeteria, grabbing a snack from the enchanted plates after a few hours of sparring.

Robin had demanded to keep fighting until he could see Shulk's foresight in action. It had taken a few matches before the psychic had gotten a vision, and then Robin had wanted to see if he could trigger it somehow, leading to a variety of strange experiments with different strength attacks.

All in all it was a strange day for Shulk, being ordered around by a knowledge-obsessed tactician, but it was enjoyable. He liked seeing how Robin's face lit up when the first vision had happened, despite the fact that Shulk had slammed the tactician the back of his head in the process.

"Yeah! It was great!" Robin hummed, stuffing his face with some sort of meat. "We have to do that again! It was fun hitting on you!" He paused with a nervous expression. "I mean hitting you, I mean- Gah! I mean it was fun learning about how you fight!"

Shulk smiled at this. "You just speak before thinking sometimes, don't you?"

"No!" Robin protested, pouting. "It's just that things don't come out the way I want them to come out!"

"Except when fighting." Shulk reminded him.

"Well yeah. Tactician remember? There are normally more lives than just mine on the line when I fight, so I can't slip up on the battlefield." Robin's expression became quite serious as he relayed this. "But hey! It adds personality, right?" His expression went back to a mad grin.

"I can't argue there." Shulk laughed.

There was a brief silence as they both went back to their meals. Robin was the one to break it.

"Hey, uh, can I call you Shulk friend? Uh, friend Shulk? I- Damn! Can I call you my friend Shulk?" The tactician stuttered.

" _Well, I've put up with him this long, and it's been rather pleasant, so…_ " The psychic smiled slightly "Yes, you can."

"Yes! Score!" Robin shouted, pumping his fists in the air. He paused for a moment, something occurring to him. "Oh, by the way, would you mind helping my sister with our experiments too? I'm not always around."

"Yes well I can- Wait, what?"

"You know, my sister? The one that looks just like me, but female?" Robin tilted his head, staring at the blond boy curiously. "She's also called Robin."

"And she'll want to do all this testing stuff too?" Shulk asked wearily.

"That's what I just said, so yeah. We share notes and stuff, so you won't be doing the same thing twice, probably." He paused. "Unless you want to of course, I doubt she'd object."

"You make it sound like me going along is a foregone conclusion." Shulk chuckled weakly.

"Isn't it though? You put up with my experiments today after all, you make a great servant!" He paused. "Uh, I mean-"

"Yes, yes. I understand." The psychic waves it off, still chuckling. "I'm not opposed, I was joking. Will she be joining us tomorrow?"

"Actually, we switch out every week. So it'll be just you two tomorrow." Robin informed the blond boy casually, like this was no big deal. "Don't worry. She's just like me."

"Great." Shulk sighed, dropping his head to the table with a weak smile. " _What have I gotten myself into?_ "

* * *

 **Well, that's my first official Smash Bros story finished. Yay!**

 **For the record, I know Robin isn't insane, and doesn't act this way in their game. The idea just came to me as I was writing and I went with it, and it was rather fun! I like exaggerating parts of a character's personality a bit to make them more interesting and easier to write (if you've read my other stories, you know what I mean), it opens up so many more possibilities and makes it easier to figure out what they'd do next.**


End file.
